


Under A

by ModSoul



Series: Between the Lines [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Season/Series 02, Victor goes on an adventure, Weeding out the Competition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22088644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModSoul/pseuds/ModSoul
Summary: Victor only wants to get some new job offers by people he hasn't met yet. Too bad, people rarely made it to the Z-section of the phone book.
Relationships: Oswald Cobblepot & Victor Zsasz, Oswald Cobblepot/Victor Zsasz
Series: Between the Lines [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588390
Comments: 10
Kudos: 31





	Under A

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a larger series depicting moments during and after the show that were only briefly mentioned or not shown at all. It takes place during Oswald's initial run as King of Gotham, but before Galavan blackmails him.

> _This is Gotham, you can find them in the phone book._  
>  _Under '_ _A'_  
>  \- 2x04: Rise of the Villains: Strike Force

"Okay, that's enough," Penguin declared, slamming his hands on the table.  
Victor did not look up from studying the phone book in his hands. The other was probably just having another of his tantrums.  
"What's going on?" It was not that Victor did not hear the question, he just ignored it as Penguin probably just thought out loud. He did that sometimes.  
"I'm talking to you!" The other yelled, pushing Victor's feet off the edge of the desk, where he had put them half an hour ago to sit more comfortably.  
Taking his time to reset his feet on the ground and the phone book in his lap, Victor looked up for the first time with a simple "Huh?", knowing this would only enrage Penguin further. He so enjoyed pushing the other's buttons.  
As expected the crime boss spluttered a bit before collecting himself. "What's going on?" He then repeated his question, a fake smile on his face.  
"Nothing?" Victor was not quite sure what the other's problem even was.  
"In the past five minutes you sighed three times, what the hell are you reading that is upsetting you this much?" The question was asked with a rough undertone, but Victor saw the genuine concern hidden in the way his eyes softened and his posture relaxed.  
"Phone book." Victor lifted it off his lap for emphasis, glossing over the fact that he had not even realised he was commenting his findings.  
"You're-Why does reading the phone book upset you?" Penguin's confusion was clearly visible. In moments like this it was hard for Victor to keep his neutral facade, but it was much more fun if the other person did not know he was having his own fun with them.  
"I was just checking how much competition I have for getting new job offers," he explained with a shrug.  
"Comp-Victor is your phone number in the phone book?"  
"Duh, that's what it is for? Lot's of people have their numbers in here!" He lifted up the page he had last looked at to show it to his boss. "Here, Wendell even made it to H," he pointed to a listing of his friend and colleague that unfairly used his nick name _Headhunter_ to be moved further ahead.  
"Okay, let me get this straight." Penguin drummed his fingers on the desk, Victor could practically see the steam slowly coming out of Penguin's ears in annoyance. "You put your phone number in the PHONE BOOK, for everyone to find and are now complaining about your placement within it?"  
"Yeah, I'm all the way in the back!" He agreed flipping the pages to show the difference.  
"That's how the alphabet works!" Penguin yelled at him. Victor could never understand how such a short man could be filled with such a huge temper, but it was fun to watch every time.  
"I should pick up a fancy name too", Victor paid no attention to the outburst, focusing on the phone book instead. "Like you. Wait. P is after C, right?"  
Penguin groaned, his quip having the desired affect.  
"You do realise that you are a wanted assassin?" Penguin asked in one of his most condescending tones.  
"Oh! That's it! Then I would be under A!" Victor jumped up flipping the pages. "See, banks have an extra entry! It'd be just like that!"  
Penguin looked at him utterly dumbfounded, his mouth hanging open and his eyes looking up and down between the page and his underling. Victor could see the wheels in his head turning, as his mouth opened and closed several times before settling on: "Okay, go to whoever makes phone books and tell them!"  
"Will do, boss," Victor agreed, closing the phone book and leaving with it, though he did not miss the angry "Unbelievable" following him outside.

It was not easy to find the office that was in charge of creating the phone book, but he would not be as good as he was if that stopped him.  
"Good evening," Victor greeted the room, his hands raised, but his jacket open to show his weapons. "I need to speak to whomever is in charge of the business entries."  
"That would be me," a gruff voice called from the end of the room. The man sounded confident, but Victor would change that soon enough.  
"Great." He walked over to announce: "I want you to add an entry 'Assassin' and beneath it all the assassins you already have in the phone book."  
"Are you serious?" The man had the audacity to ask.  
"Duh, I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't," he merely shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.  
"That is, we never did something like that. That's not possible," the other tried, but Victor was not impressed by his reasoning.  
So, he pulled out one of his guns and pointed at the chest of the man and the room fell silent. "Do you know who I am?"  
The man gulped and shook his head.  
"I'm Victor Zsasz and if you want to continue working then I'd advise you to do as I say."  
"Mr. Zsasz," a calm voice called to him from the side. He turned his head to find a young dark-skinned woman with her hands raised in surrender etching closer to the desk before him. "What my colleague is trying to say is, is that there is paperwork needed in order to get a new business topic admitted into the phone book. So, for the topic you wish to have added to appear, we need at least five willing participants and every person added to the list has to fill out a letter of consent to be displayed in such a way."  
Victor lowered the gun. He was fairly certain she was playing for time. That and the fact that not all of his colleagues would agree to such an endeavour, made it obvious that she was certain he would not have the patience to do this the right way. He would have to prove her wrong, it seemed. "Alright, give me those forms and a preview of the page," he agreed throwing the phone book he had taken from Penguin on the desk. "I dog eared and marked every entry of an assassin. I'll come back tomorrow to pick everything up."  
They were just staring at him, so he shot the ceiling. "Pleaaase," he threateningly added. As they scrambled to do as they were told, he left.

When he came into the room the next day everything fell silent. They were afraid. Good. He walked up to the woman who had spoken to him yesterday. Without him needing to say a word she handed him a print out of the page and a stack of papers.  
"For this to be added in the next edition we need the signatures within the next two weeks," she told him another lie, but her poker face was good, he had to give her that.  
"Okie-dokie," he agreed looking at the page. There it was, page thirteen, awesome. Though, one thing was not as it should be. "Who wrote this?"  
"What do you mean?" The woman asked, her voice slightly trembling. He must have shown his ire.  
Briefly her eyes darted to the right. Beside her was a man that paled when Victor's gaze landed on him. With a few steps and a well placed jump Victor crossed the desk, took the man by the throat and pushed him into the wall behind him. "My name, is spelled Z-S-A-S-Z, it's an Anna-word, how hard can it BE?"  
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry ..." the man whimpered, tears and snot running down his face.  
"Oh, you will be, if this makes it into the final print." With this Victor shoved the man into his chair, raised one of his hands and splayed it on the table. In a swift move, he took out one of his knives and gave him a reminder. Then he grabbed a pencil from a case neatly standing on the desk and dipped it into the blood pooling on the table. With his improvised ink he added the missing s to his name.  
"Alright-y then, see you in a few days," he announced stuffing the papers into his jacket pocket.

"You're serious? You want to add Assassin to the phone book?" Wendell laughed at him.  
"Yeah, so help me get the signatures?" Victor asked holding up the sheets. "Anyone who doesn't want to sign will have to be taken off the list," he offered, knowing the other would understand the hidden meaning.  
"Oh, I'm in!" The agreed grabbing a page to fill it out himself.  
Victor knew he could count on his friend.  
Together they collected all they needed within a week, of course to the surprise of the office staff who had not expected him to return at all. He put the - partly bloodied - forms and the preview page on the woman's desk. "Had to cross out a few, they didn't want to be featured in the phone book any more," he explained the edits he made to the latter.  
"That's okay," she answered after swallowing her fear down.  
"So next week you'll print the new thing?"  
"Ye-yes, you can pick up your copy on Wednesday, fresh from the press," she told him. Her eyes darting to the empty table beside her.  
"Awesome, thanks." Nothing more to say he took his leave.

~~~

"Hey boss!" He greeted Penguin as he opened the door.  
"Knocking!" Came the expected reply that he ignored as usual.  
"Look!" Victor said instead opening the phone book to show the page where now stood his name at the end of the list of Gotham's finest assassins. Still the last one, but that was how the alphabet worked after all.  
"You actually did it." Penguin sounded amazed as he took the book from his hands to take a closer look.  
Victor just shrugged, he always knew, he would pull this off.  
"Well, I'm impressed, well done, old friend," Peguin acknowledged putting it down. "How many lives have you ended to accomplish this?"  
"Two," Victor returned the sinister grin. "and a quarter."  
"You have to elaborate on that," Penguin urged leaning his head on his folded hands.  
"Well, two didn't want to sign the papers and that one guy from the office misspelled my name, so I cut off his pinky," Victor recalled his deeds, waving with his own finger.  
"How dare he," Penguin mock agreed, probably picturing his actions. "Well, now that that is taken care of," he continued and started rummaging through one of his drawers. "Would you do me the honors of getting rid of this outdated old thing?" He asked holding out the copy he was sure he had left back in the phone book office.  
So Penguin did get involved after all. Probably after being notified about the finger-incident. Or when he weeded out his competition.  
"With pleasure, boss." The glint in the other's eyes let the innuendo slip past his protective walls. Maybe he read too much into the gesture, but maybe, this was Penguin's way of implying that they could rekindle their arrangement. After all, he was tasked to burn something.

**Author's Note:**

> With Anna-word Victor means a Palindrome, a word that is the same read forwards and backwards.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this.
> 
> Some more on _the arrangement_ can be found in [Zsasle-not?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22463755).


End file.
